7th July
We’re heading for Barcelona. We stayed on a campsite a few kilometers out of the city by the coast which was pretty grim and dusty but we only planned on staying one night, determined to get up early and go into Barcelona. Our neighbours, a Swedish family, arrived shortly after us. We sat sipping our chilled rose and watched them setting up camp, erecting their tent etc. It took almost two hours and made Brenda seem like such a luxury. Their two teenage sons looked on with a look in their eyes I recognise seeing in our own children when they were that age, that any predicament in life is preferable to camping with your parents!
8th June
Barcelona, capital of the autonomous community of Catalonia. It’s hard to know what to say about Barcelona – modern, colourful, lively, exuberant, full of tourists. We followed some of the ‘recommended sites’ and rambled down ‘La Rambla’, a busy boulevard with traffic on either side and a central walkway teeming with tourists and stalls selling lots of merchandise from China. Spanish police were much in evidence, suggesting we should beware of pickpockets.
The popular and touristic ‘Ramblas de Canaletes’ known as ‘La Rambla’.
Stalls lining the Rambla central walkway.
Taxis in Barcelona are the same colour as Alexandria taxis.
A woman (or man?) advertising the ‘Erotic Museum’ on La Rambla.
We stopped at the much-vaunted Viena Cafe for a light lunch. It’s supposed to be the place to get the best sandwich in Barcelona and it looked promising with its art nouveau decor, quaint sushi-style circular bar surrounding the serving area, classical music and even ornamental grand piano. The sandwich was good but the tired-looking aubergine salad was unceremoniously plonked in front of us in a cheap plastic bowl. Despite these ‘disappointments’ it is a remarkable city and well worth a visit. From La Rambla we walked down to the ‘El Born’ district whose relaxed and more bohemian atmosphere was more to our taste. There was a surprising amount of begging in the city, but it took creative forms like women singing operatic tunes in front of the cathedral in Placa Nova or the man ‘fishing’ for coins in El Born. We saw several men (including one with a young boy) going through rubbish bins.
A ham and sausage stall in the covered market off La Rambla. Pork as well as fish feature highly in Spanish cuisine.
Outside the famous ‘Viena Cafe’.
A cycle-friendly city.
The tired-looking aubergine and feta salad served in a plastic dish at the Viena Cafe.
During the Spanish Civil War, Barcelona and Catalonia were fiercely republican. The resistance of Barcelona to Franco and the eventual fall of the city on 26 January 1939 to Franco’s troops caused a mass exodus of civilians to the French border and had devastating results including the abolition of autonomous Catalan institutions and the suppression of the Catalan language.
Poster campaigning for Catalonian independence.
What was truly remarkable was the work of architect
Antoni Gaudí, which can be seen throughout the city. His best-known work is the immense but still unfinished church of the
Sagrada Família, which has been under construction since 1882, and is still financed by private donations. 2026 is the planned completion date. Its difficult to know how to describe his work – it’s hugely impressive but there is almost a child-like prehistoric feel about it.
The as yet unfinished and ‘awe-inspiring’ Sagrada Familia cathedral.
After a long hot day walking and exploring, we got back into Brenda and contemplated one last stop in Spain but decided to head straight for the Aude in France instead. Somehow we were hankering for some older home-like familiarity.
On the considerable walk back to the car (we’d parked it on the outskirts and had taken the tube to the centre), Judith got an unexpected bit of respite from the heat in the form of some upward flowing ventilation. It seemed to be in keeping with the ‘sympatico’ spirit of the city.
A bit of unexpected fresh air during our walk back to Brenda.
Travels with our van 
Splendid photography throughout. Flavio’s beard has become rather alarming. Was afraid you would become entangled with the Tour de France in Les Hautes Alpes with catastrophic consequences. Look forward to seeing you when you get to Greece, my dears
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Thanks Rob. You’re right, the old beard was getting a bit out of control! You’ll be pleased to know I went to the barbiere today (in my ancestral home of Trani!) and had beard as well as hair trimmed. The Tour was due to pass through Guillestre where we were and it was tempting to hang around but I probably would have been banned as a spectator, though how they manage anyway to stay on their bikes through these winding treacherous mountain roads is hard to believe. Due to take a boat from Bari to Dubrovnik on the 2nd and we’ll meander our way to Pelion from there and scoop Catherine in Thessaloniki all being well. Hope you had a productive trip to Pakistan. I’m sorry I never sent you Anwer Iqbal’s tel no but I looked and seemed to have lost it – sorry, should have told you. Hope you have a safe journey back.
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